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Saturday, 27 September 2014

JMT Post-mortem

My JMT adventure was a series of up and down moments.I had a great time and a few ‘moments’
too.The JMT is a great walk and one
that I will complete.I completed around
50 miles on this trip and it was quite stunning, yet I know the best is
regarded to be later along the trail.

I was (to be blunt) too big/fat to do the trek justice.I struggled badly on the hills and this made
me very slow.I was walking 7-8 hours
yet at times felt like I was treading water.Whilst I had no great schedule that I had to stick to, there are
practical issues to going so slow.You
need enough food and fuel basically.

I turned around just before the top of Donahue Pass.I didn’t want to get to the top then turn
around because I may have been tempted to push on (2-3 days to Reds
Meadow).Also I wanted to save the great
views.

When I did turn around I headed downhill to Tuolumne Meadows, this was only around
12 miles, yet I was ready to drop when I reached the campsite.This made me happy that I had made the right
decision.

Things I got wrong –

Obvious really - No training and gaining weight (20kgs since April).The heat hit me hard, over 30 degrees most
days, but this is again can be linked back to the weight.

Things I got right –

The gear.The pack weight was not an
issue (14-15kgs inc. food and water).Pack,
shelter, quilt were all pretty damn great.At no time did I think I had forgot or needed something.

2 comments:

We've been backpacking in Yosemite and the High Sierra quite a few times over the years and the first time we went we got it all wrong because of the altitude. After that, we got it down to a bit of a fine art! We used to spend a week camping and walking at Tuolumne Meadows first (8,600ft) to well acclimatise, before setting out on long backpacking trips (long meaning 6 - 8 days). We also used to reckon on a speed of no more than one and a half miles per hour with a heavy backpack. It's beautiful country isn't it, though? Look forward to hearing more when you return :)